Calling
by gilventure
Summary: Cloud takes a break in a special flower field and maybe meets someone he's been looking for. [CloudxAerith] [completed]
1. Remembrance

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and its characters are copywrite Square-Enix.

_This is the first of two versions of the "Calling" and "Reminiscence" sequences that I particularly like. This goes with the philosophy that although Aerith could communicate with Cloud during AC, this was only because she was connected to the Planet and can only act if there is a need for protection. In this version, Cloud cannot call on her whenever he wishes to. So this is my interpretation of what Cloud does when he goes to the flower field during Calling following this version. _

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**Calling -- Remembrance**

Cloud drove.

On the back of his bike were Barret's presents for Marlene and Denzel, his last deliveries, and Yuffie's "temporarily closed" sign. They did not weigh him down any more than any other deliveries ever did. He knew Tifa and the kids would be glad for a chance to see Barret and the rest again.

Cloud would too. He hadn't seen them since they'd parted ways after fighting Sephiroth for the final time. He missed them, though their frequent phone calls halfway made up for the lack of their presence. It would be good to see them again.

Flower fields rose on either side of him. In the afternoon sun, their yellow color was warm and welcoming. Flowers of any sort always made him think of her, but this particular field seemed very close to her. When he came here, it was as though she was with him again.

He put his bike in park. His feet touched ground and he stood, absorbing the warmth of the sun. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent of the flowers. He walked away from the road, leaving his bike by the side. The flowers whispered around his feet as he moved past them. Once he was further into the field, he lay down, surrounded by the flowers. The sky above him was filled with white clouds dotted with pockets of blue.

It was quiet. His eyes slid shut, his lips turning up in a slight smile.

He always seemed nearer to her when he was like this. Close to the earth and the sky, where she was. Close to the planet she had given her life and all of her strength to protect. The city was frequently busy and he often had so many deliveries that there was no time to return to her church. The church wasn't the same anymore, anyway. The fight against Kadaj had seen to that. Aerith's healing water had replaced the flowers she had tended for so long. The preserved memory was now of that battle, not of the battle of two and a half years prior.

But it was flowers that made him think of her as herself and not as the guardian of the planet. It was to flowers that he returned when he needed to feel her personal presence. That was why he had lived in her church for that short period of time in the first place. He'd wanted to be near her on a personal level. Her sacrifice and his role in it had been too much for him to bear. But her church had been a reminder of the time he'd actually spent at her side, being pushed by her and laughing with her and talking to her and listening to her and protecting her.

Now her church was a reminder of the second battle and of her great bond with the planet. He couldn't connect with the guardian; she was a being beyond him, though one he would protect at all costs. But the girl he could connect with, and had connected with.

So it was to the flowers he returned, time and again, as he was now. If he closed his eyes, he felt she was near him, in the wind, in the sun on his face, in the earth at his back, in the flowers that pressed against him. Like this he would lie for hours, sometimes remembering and sometimes just existing. But if he listened very carefully, he could hear her laugh in the wind and maybe a shadow would pass over his eyes like her hand when she sent him back to his friends after he was injured in the last battle.

She had healed his illness and absolved him of any guilt for her death. He was living this new, more content life because of her. He was living it for her, and for Zack who had lost his to protect Cloud's. They were the reasons he could go on taking care of the people who relied on him. He carried on for them and held them close to his heart. In that way, both of them were always with him.

Every once in a while, though, he would need more than the mere knowledge that she watched over him and that because of her bond with the planet she knew what he was doing no matter what. At times like those, coming to this field enabled him to pretend, just for a little while, that she was right next to him again, that they were traveling together again and had nothing but future and defeating Sephiroth ahead of them. In this way, he could go on.

The scent of the flowers began to lull him to sleep, and his thoughts drifted. For a moment, he thought he heard her voice say his name.

Then the phone rang.


	2. Her Promised Land

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and its characters are copyright Square-Enix.

_This is the second version of "Calling" and "Reminiscence" from a Cloud and Aerith perspective--it's been a long time in coming, actually. This version goes with the philosophy that Aerith, during Final Fantasy VII, chose Cloud as her Promised Land, which is why she can speak to him in his dream and why he hears her voice before her death. This goes with the idea that, during Advent Children, the reason he couldn't meet her directly (as was his intent during Final Fantasy VII's ending, where he was going to meet her) was because his guilt was stopping their connection. By the point in which "Calling" takes place, Cloud's guilt is gone and their connection is reestablished so that they can indeed meet each other once again. So, with this very long prelude, my second interpretation of "Calling"._

**Calling - Her Promised Land**

Cloud pulled his bike into park. The yellow flower fields rose to surround him, welcoming, on either side. The air was fresh, filled with their scent. Cloud smiled, breathing deeply, and stepped off his bike. As he began to walk through the flowers, his phone rang. It was Tifa.

"It's me. I've got only one more package to deliver to Midgar. Have there been any requests?"

He waited, watching the sky, as Tifa told him about a request that had been turned in.

"No, turn that one down. I'm making tomorrow a holiday."

She asked him why. He rarely took off for holidays.

"Nothing special," he replied. "Say, Tifa, can you close the shop?"

She agreed immediately.

He blinked. "That wasn't hard."

She laughed; he waited for her to quiet before he said, "All right. Let Denzel and Marlene know too. See you later, then."

With that obligation taken care of, he was free with the rest of his day. He glanced over his shoulder. On the back of his bike was the "temporarily closed" sign Yuffie had given him, along with the presents for Denzel and Marlene from Barret. It would be good to have everyone together again. He knew that Tifa and the kids would be happy. He would too, as a matter of fact. He missed his friends, the camaraderie. It wasn't the same without all of them.

Smiling, breathing in the scent of the flowers, he began to walk further into the flower field. Ever since her church had been ruined in the final battle with Sephiroth, he'd had difficulty finding those small things that reminded him of her. They were what kept him going every day. When he'd found this field for the first time, his heart had soared. Here, in this place, it seemed as though she was there, with him, once again. Once, her church had been his place of refuge; now it was in even worse shape than it had been before, and her healing water had taken the place of the flowers she had tended so faithfully in her life.

Her church reminded him of her death, now. Although it no longer pained him, he still felt the emptiness in his heart where she once filled it. When the church had still held her flowers, it had seemed as though she was merely away, fetching water or talking with her mother, and if he closed his eyes and waited patiently, she would return to him. The water in the church now served as a reminder that she had not only transcended life, but had also transcended death to become the guardian of the Planet itself.

Cloud knew he was too simple to grasp the enormity of her role. Instead, he held on to the woman he had lived with, talked with, laughed with, protected, and cherished. She, the same woman who had stood back to back with him even though she was a spirit, who had pulled him out of the present world to save him from himself, was even now the one who guided his every step. He wanted to honor her gift to him all of his life; she had saved him not once, but three times. It was a debt he could never repay with only one lifetime, and yet she had asked nothing of him other than that he live.

Cloud bent and picked up a handful of the delicate yellow flowers, caressed and warmed by the late afternoon sun. He did not take these moments often; he was busy most of the day, between work and helping take care of Denzel and Marlene. Yet every now and then, he needed to be near her, to listen to the sound of the sky against the grasses of the land she had loved more than anything else. Of the land that had accepted her as it chosen one. Cloud's eyes slipped shut as he listened to the sound of the gentle breeze rustling the flowers and the grasses. It was as though she was there, next to him, her laughter just out of reach.

He sighed and said her name. _Aerith _

Opening his eyes, he reluctantly began to make his way back to his bike. It would be dark soon, and he would have to return home to give the kids their presents and discuss plans with Tifa for the outing tomorrow. Sometimes it was difficult, returning to Seventh Heaven. He was never completely comfortable, and he stayed mostly because he owed Tifa a great debt and couldn't leave her to fend for herself with two children. Tifa has guided him back to himself; he held a deep affection and respect for her.

But… It was never enough. The little fires of his respect, admiration, and affection for Tifa; of his love for Marlene and Denzel; of his love for his friends were never quite enough to quench the yearning that sometimes was overwhelming. He concealed it well; he had always been good at keeping things to himself. Tifa understood; he read it in the way she kept her distance and didn't ask questions. Once she might have, before that final battle with Sephiroth. Now, she seemed happy enough that he lived at home and helped with the family. It was enough for her now.

Without the guilt that had weighed heavily upon him, Cloud now only had a longing to be with the woman who had helped him to ease his own burden. He could live with it, although at times it was difficult. After all, she expected him to live, for her and for himself. And when the time came, he would return to her, and she would be waiting for him. That was more than enough. She expected him to take care of Tifa and Marlene and Denzel and the rest. He could do no less for her sake. He was her will on her Planet; he could go where she could not, and she could go where he could not. They were a team, now and until the day he at last returned to the lifestream he had visited only once before, when the sound of her voice had kept him from drowning so deeply that not even Tifa could find him.

Cloud reached his bike. He set the flowers on the back, securing them tightly. He moved around to the roadside so that he could get back on and drive away.

A figure in the flowerfield opposite the one he had just visited suddenly caught his eye. He thought, for a moment, that he was imagining someone who couldn't possibly be there. But the warm brown hair and the unmistakable flash of pink were enough to pull him away from his parked bike. He moved slowly, afraid that she would vanish, afraid that perhaps he truly was imagining her. In his chest, his heart thudded softly. He wanted her to stay; he didn't want her do disappear.

Her back was to him. She was looking off into the distance. He stopped, staring at her. Her back was straight and strong, as it had always been. The wind blew the loose strands of her hair about her. She seemed regal and alone simultaneously. He wanted to hold her.

She turned.

And smiled.

And did not vanish.

He was frozen. He couldn't speak. He could only stare dumbly into her knowing green eyes. She reached out her hand. He, unthinking, reached back and caught her hand in his. "Aerith," her name escaped his lips in little more than a whisper as his fingers closed over hers gently, as though she was a delicate, fragile thing.

"Cloud." She tilted her head and arched her eyebrow, her eyes full of the teasing light he remembered best about her.

"How is this possible?"

She laughed. How he had longed for that sound. "I told you! Remember? Cetra who protect the Planet have spirit bodies." With her free hand, she gestured to herself. "This is mine. I can't stay long; I'm only solid for a short time, since I'm only half-Cetra. But it's enough to take care of you, you big baby." She reached up and gently touched his face. Her fingers felt cool and comforting against his skin.

They looked at each other for a long moment. "I thought you were healed," she finally said quietly.

"I am."

She shook her head. "If you are still calling me here, you can't be."

"I miss you."

"Oh Cloud." She stepped away from him, freeing herself from him. Turning away, she clasped her hands behind her back. Her head tilted up to look up at the sky. He could only see the slight line of her profile. She pointed up at the sky. "I'm always with you, see? I'm all around here."

"That's not the same," he burst out brokenly. "It's not the same. I can't hear your voice."

She glanced over her shoulder at him. The light smile was back on her face. "Cloud, come here."

He came to stand by her side. She reached out her right hand and placed it on his chest, just over his heart. "I exist in you, Cloud. I can't be separated from you. We're together, always. Whenever you call, I will be there."

"Like you are now?"

She shook her head. "Taking a physical form is hard for me. It breaks the barrier between the living and the dead—" She frowned up at him when he opened his mouth to protest. "Cloud, this is fine." She stepped away from him, but not too far away. Clasping her hands behind her back again, she leaned forward to look up into his bewildered eyes. "Do you know what the promised land is, Cloud?"

"I still don't know," he whispered. "Even now."

"Happiness." Her face broke into a radiant smile. "Do you know where my promised land is, Cloud? Do you know why I can still talk to you and interact with you, even when the Planet's not in danger?"

"No…"

She touched his chest lightly with her forefinger. "Here. In you."

"Oh."

She laughed again in mock offense. "'Oh'? Is that all you have to say? You could at least be honored." She looked up at the sky, her eyes becoming distant and pensive. He thought, for a moment, that she would disappear. He moved toward her involuntarily.

She turned, her eyes crinkling merrily at the corners. "Because Cloud is my promised land, the Planet helps me to protect you. The Planet is where all promised lands are grounded, but promised lands are varied. Mine is where the person I love the most is, and so it will always include you." Her lips curved into a smile. "You can see me anytime. You just have to find me in your heart."

He couldn't speak. He reached for her, his arm wrapping around her shoulders. He pulled her against him, burying his face in the scent of her hair. She smelled like lilies, fresh and pure as her soul, with just a hint of tart. She leaned her forehead against his chest, and they stood there.

Slowly, she vanished from his arms until he was holding nothing but air.

He looked up at the sky and smiled.

He was her promised land.

And she was his.

_----fin----_


End file.
